Wild Mutations Update - Available Now!

This first major update for Monster Train adds exciting features that expand the game experience and brings something for everyone. It features all new challenges for players who have achieved max rank, adds massive modifiers which will notably alter your decision-making, and exciting new unlockables for players of all levels. In addition, we've done our largest balance pass to date, increasing the viability of a wide range of new strategies.

Major new features

35 New Mutators that can be used in all game modes, including single player runs. Two of the new mutators are the mind-bending Hivemind (all units are all subtypes) and the wacky Googly Eyes!

15 Expert Challenges to test your skills. Once you’ve won a run at Covenant 25 you’ll unlock 15 challenges to complete. Your Logbook tracks your progress.

Unlockable card mastery frames. After meeting the unlock criteria you can earn alternate card mastery frames inspired by various elements of the Monster Train world. After updating check the Logbook for more details.

Featured Community Challenges. Under the newly renamed Challenges menu (formerly “multiplayer”) you can browse curated Community Challenges made by Monster Train players around the world. Each challenge has its own leaderboard - can you reach #1?

Balance strategy

First of all, we just wanted to say a bit about our balance philosophy. Overall our goal isn't some type of 'perfect' balance where all cards are used with similar frequency or there aren't super powered combos. Our goals instead with the current round of balance changes are twofold: firstly we wanted to target the outliers - cards or artifacts with very high win and pick rates and ones with very low rates. Ideally this means that it's never a 'no-brainer' to either pass on or pick a card or artifact and as often as possible the choice depends on the current state of your run. Secondly we wanted to start shifting our balance 'target' to higher covenants - as we've launched and more players have begun to climb the covenants we both have enough data and believe the playerbase as a whole is at a high enough level that we're doing more of our tuning targeted around the top end of play. The end result is that some cards that are balanced at a high end of play may be slightly stronger or weaker in the lower covenant end of play, and that's ok. Our goal here is rather to make sure the end-game depth is as diverse as possible with the biggest practical impact being around updating the scaling values on certain cards to make sure they're viable at all covenant levels. As usual all balance is an ongoing process and especially in a game with as many pieces as this one we expect to continue to tune and adjust frequently around the launch of the patch as a wider range of players gets their hands on the changes.

We also wanted to call out one specific change here as well, and that's the shift from morsels 'dying' when eaten instead to them 'despawning'. We wanted to recognize that this does remove a fun synergy between the Remnant and Umbra clans that many of us enjoyed, however both clans when not in this combination we felt were too weak and wanted to make some changes. Specifically, we wanted to buff both Harvest triggers on Remnant and the impact of some of the Morsels. Our goal with these changes was to make these clans more playable in other combinations without making this clan combo the 'must use' one. It also had an added benefit of not making the core mechanic of the Umbra clan as punishing against enemies with Harvest triggers themselves, which was an interaction we had already considered possibly overly punishing.

Full patch notes

Major New Features:

1. NEW FEATURE - 35 new mutators that can be used in all game modes.
2. NEW FEATURE - you can now add mutators to standard runs (single player). Note that using mutators prevents all progression because you can make very easy runs - you do not gain XP, master cards, or unlock new covenant levels.
3. NEW FEATURE - 15 expert challenges to test your skills. Unlocked after winning a run at Covenant 25.
4. NEW FEATURE - unlockable card mastery frames. Collect them all!
5. NEW FEATURE - featured community challenges. In the Community Challenge area (previously called Custom Challenges) there are a bunch of challenges both featured manually by the dev team and also algorithmically based on popularity, high scores, difficulty, and more. Create some challenges, share them with friends, and see if they get featured! Updates every 24 hours currently.
6. BALANCE - numerous balance changes. More information on balance strategy and a full list of changes is below.

Clanless Gameplay Changes:

1. GAMEPLAY - Advanced Prototype now adds 5 attack and 5 health to Train Stewards on top of other benefits.
2. GAMEPLAY - Automatic Rail Spikes damage increased 5X -> 10X.
3. GAMEPLAY - changed the order of operations on Cleanse Seraph so it does the cleanse effect before spawning a minion. This benefits the player - now effects like Light's Gift can apply to summoned minions.
4. GAMEPLAY - Gift of Gratitude coin increased 30X -> 40X.
5. GAMEPLAY - increased status effect stack maximum from 999 to 9999, which was requested multiple times in the context of Frostbite primarily.
6. GAMEPLAY - Iron Dropcage dazed stacks reduced 3 -> 2 since it is now much easier to trigger.
7. GAMEPLAY - Iron Dropcage now triggers even if the unit can't move, for example if it's in the bottom floor and you cast Dripfall on it.
8. GAMEPLAY - Iron Dropcage now triggers on Flying Bosses before the relentless phase if you cast a spell like Dripfall on them.
9. GAMEPLAY - Most Blessed Sword damage increased 10X -> 30X.
10. GAMEPLAY - new status effect: Fragile. If an affected unit takes any damage to their health, they die. This appears in several new mutators.
11. GAMEPLAY - Revenge triggers now also happen when a unit takes lethal damage and dies.
12. GAMEPLAY - Thy Holiest Shield damage shield stacks reduced from 3X -> 2X.
13. GAMEPLAY - Volatile Gauge random ember cost increased from 0-3 -> 1-3.
14. GAMEPLAY - Winged Steel card draw reduced 2 -> 1.

Hellhorned Gameplay Changes:

1. GAMEPLAY - Alpha Fiend attack on strike increased 3 -> 5, health increased 20 -> 25.
2. GAMEPLAY - Deranged Brute bonus attack per stack of Rage increased 2 -> 3.
3. GAMEPLAY - Hornbreaker Prince's Wrathful path Rage on Revenge increased 1 -> 2 at level 1 and goes up from there.
4. GAMEPLAY - Onehorn's Tome now adds Fragile to the target. Now only targets friendly units.
5. GAMEPLAY - Ritual of Battle Rage gain increased 6 -> 8.
6. GAMEPLAY - Welder Helper armor gain increased 15 -> 20.

Awoken Gameplay Changes:

1. GAMEPLAY - Awake regen decreased 4 -> 3.
2. GAMEPLAY - Cycle of Life Spikes reduced 4 -> 3.
3. GAMEPLAY - Husk Hermit attack increased 3 -> 5.
4. GAMEPLAY - Pyre-Gro redesigned. Now it causes you to draw 2 fewer cards next turn and gain +1 ember per turn for the rest of battle.
5. GAMEPLAY - Razorsharp Edge attack gain increased 8 -> 10.
6. GAMEPLAY - Shattered Shell attack gain on Slay increased 2 -> 3.
7. GAMEPLAY - Steel Enhancer ember cost reduced 1 -> 0.
8. GAMEPLAY - The Sentient's Explosive path damage increased 15 -> 20 at level 1, 30 -> 40 at level 2.
9. GAMEPLAY - Vinemother's health increased 20 -> 40.
10. GAMEPLAY - Wilting Sapwood attack increased 5 -> 15.

Stygian Gameplay Changes:

1. GAMEPLAY - Gifts for a Guard ember cost increased 2 -> 3.
2. GAMEPLAY - Glacial Seal ember cost increased from 1 -> 2.
3. GAMEPLAY - Guardian Amulet Sap decreased 3 -> 2.
4. GAMEPLAY - Hoarfrost Effigy ember cost increased 2 -> 3.
5. GAMEPLAY - Lodestone Totem ember cost increased 1 -> 3.
6. GAMEPLAY - Nameless Siren Rage gain increased 1 -> 2.
7. GAMEPLAY - Siren of the Sea attack and health gain on Incant increased from 1/1 -> 2/2.
8. GAMEPLAY - Stygian Spike frostbite amounts increased from 1X -> 5X
9. GAMEPLAY - Titan's Gratitude damage increased 25 -> 30.

Umbra Gameplay Changes:

1. GAMEPLAY - Antumbra Morsel health increased 4 -> 5, health gain on eating increased 3 -> 4.
2. GAMEPLAY - Crucible Warden health increased 10 -> 20.
3. GAMEPLAY - Ember Forge capacity reduced 4 -> 3.
4. GAMEPLAY - Furnace Tap Rage reduced 4 -> 3.
5. GAMEPLAY - Magma Morsel attack increased 3 -> 4, attack gain on eating increased 3 -> 4.
6. GAMEPLAY - Morselmaker attack increased 0 -> 5, health increased 10 -> 15.
7. GAMEPLAY - Morsels that get eaten no longer count as deaths for Harvest or other mechanics.
8. GAMEPLAY - Penumbra's Glutton path gains slightly more attack and health at levels 2 and 3.
9. GAMEPLAY - Perils of Production ember gain increased 2 -> 3.
10. GAMEPLAY - Shadoweater Gorge damage and heal both increased 5 -> 10.
11. GAMEPLAY - Shadowsiege capacity increased 5 -> 6.
12. GAMEPLAY - Teeth of Gold damage to back unit increased 2 -> 3.
13. GAMEPLAY - Void Binding ember cost increased 0 -> 1.

Remnant Gameplay Changes:

1. GAMEPLAY - Big Sludge Rage gain on Harvest increased 2 -> 5.
2. GAMEPLAY - Bounty Stalker attack gain reduced 10 -> 8.
3. GAMEPLAY - Devourer of Death's subtype is now Wickless instead of Tomb.
4. GAMEPLAY - Dripfall ember cost reduced 2 -> 1 and now applies Dazed 1.
5. GAMEPLAY - Engulfed in Smoke ember cost increased 1 -> 2.
6. GAMEPLAY - Entombed Explosive Extinguish damage increased 35 -> 50.
7. GAMEPLAY - Melting Spout now adds Burnout 1 to Tombs in addition to the health gain.
8. GAMEPLAY - Molten Encasement Stealth on death increased 1 -> 2.
9. GAMEPLAY - Paraffin Enforcer Rage gain on strike increased 2 -> 3.
10. GAMEPLAY - Rector Flicker's Accumulator buffed to add attack at each level, starting with +1 at level 1.
11. GAMEPLAY - Rector Flicker's Burn Bright path stats reduced 60/60 -> 50/50 at level 1 and are also down slightly at levels 2 and 3.
12. GAMEPLAY - Rector Flicker's Dark Calling path now Reforms 2 units per turn at all levels and adds bonus attack at levels 2 and 3.
13. GAMEPLAY - Remnant Host ember cost decreased 1 -> 0.
14. GAMEPLAY - Tomb units now all have 1 health.
15. GAMEPLAY - Votivary ember cost reduced 1 -> 0.
16. GAMEPLAY - Votive Key now applies Endless to the first unit summoned each turn.
17. GAMEPLAY - Wickless Baron attack gain increased 1 -> 3.
18. GAMEPLAY - Wickless Tycoon base stats increased from 3/20 -> 10/25.

New Mutators:

1. A New Challenger - Your Champion is randomly replaced by one that is not from your primary or allied clan.
2. A Simple Plan - Non-Champion units cost +2 ember. Start with Sketches of Salvation.
3. Arcane Allergy - Enemy units enter with Spell Weakness 1.
4. At Your Service - Start with 2 additional Train Stewards and Advanced Prototype.
5. Big Chungus - All friendly units get +1 capacity.
6. Bleeding Cash - Lose 1 coin whenever a friendly unit takes damage.
7. Buying Power - Merchants provide a card duplication service.
8. Come Prepared - Add 12 additional random cards to your starting deck.
9. Dante’s Comedy - Start with Dante the Deceptive and 3 Dante’s Candle.
10. Extra Pyre - Your Pyre gets +80 health.
11. Fallen Champion - Remove the Champion from your starting deck.
12. Final Shard - Your Pyre starts the run with fragile and damage shield 2.
13. Googly Eyes - All units have googly eyes in battle.
14. Gravity - At the end of the turn, descend friendly units.
15. Highly Reactive - Triggered abilities on friendly units trigger an additional time.
16. Hivemind - Friendly units count as all subtypes.
17. Levity - Enemy units get haste.
18. Luxury in Limbo - Additional unit banners appear in Limbo.
19. Multi-Pyre - Your Pyre gets multistrike 1.
20. Ninja Training - Minor bosses enter with stealth 5.
21. No Fluff - All cards have 1 fewer upgrade slot.
22. One Track Mind - The path you take on the map is chosen automatically.
23. Protect the Pyre - Start with Boon of the Blacksmith, Precious Plating, and Pyrewall.
24. Puny Things - All units have 1 capacity.
25. Return on Investment - Spawn an additional Collector in battles that already have a Collector.
26. Sacrificial - Apply fragile to the first friendly unit summoned each turn.
27. Starry Suffering - Friendly units enter with dazed 2.
28. Strike Hard - All units get multistrike 1.
29. The Math Challenge - Room combat previews are disabled.
30. Tissue Paper - Apply fragile to non-boss enemy units when they enter the Pyre Room.
31. Upgraded Drafts - Cards in reward packs and unit banners come with a random upgrade.
32. Vampiric Touch - All units enter with lifesteal 3.
33. Volatile Spells - The targets of spells are chosen randomly.
34. Wand of Cure Light Wounds - Restore 5 health to all units after combat.
35. Zoom, Enhance - All cards have 1 additional upgrade slot.

Other Changes and Bug Fixes:

1. ART - mutator icons have been normalized and updated for consistency.
2. ART - swap art in Concealed Caverns events for purge/duplicate cards to more closely match the map icons.
3. ART - Vine Grasp VFX sped up.
4. AUDIO - added button click sounds to some places in the UI that were missing it.
5. AUDIO - play victory music when you win a Hell Rush.
6. BUG FIX - don't allow enter to close a choice in the deck screen unless a card is selected.
7. BUG FIX - don't prevent Lifesteal if all damage was blocked by Armor. But still prevent it if damage was blocked by Damage Shield.
8. BUG FIX - fixed a bug in the featured challenge UI if you clicked your mouse like a madman trying to open a challenge.
9. BUG FIX - fixed a bug where you could permanently get stuck in a lower resolution when using Exclusive mode, multiple monitors, and lowered your resolution below your monitor's native size.
10. BUG FIX - fixed a bug with multiplayer emote keyboard mapping.
11. BUG FIX - fixed a rare multiplayer error message appearing during battle intro.
12. BUG FIX - fixed a situation where some cards in Run Summary did not update their dynamic body text based on certain upgrades. Was seen with Spike of the Hellhorned and Doublestack for example.
13. BUG FIX - fixed a softlock in a rare situation with Wiltwings.
14. BUG FIX - fixed a very rare exception on PCs with broken file systems that cannot save the game at all. Affected players can still play now without softlocking but no progress will ever be saved.
15. BUG FIX - fixed an issue where card upgrades weren't shown correctly on some types of X cards in Run Summary.
16. BUG FIX - fixed an issue where the Minimap didn't reset correctly when you restarted a run.
17. BUG FIX - fixed an issue with our handling of dates if you were using a calendar like the Thai Buddhist calendar. Affected players could not start a Hell Rush and had date display issues.
18. BUG FIX - fixed issues with Molluscmage Magic Power gain accumulating improperly.
19. BUG FIX - fixed minimap coin reward icon.
20. BUG FIX - fixed multiple issues with the official Monster Train data API. If you're interested in access, contact us on Discord.
21. BUG FIX - fixed some card animation timing that was not going fast enough in Super Ultra speed.
22. BUG FIX - fixed some problems in Hell Rush when abandoning and using "new run" to re-enter another rush.
23. BUG FIX - fixed tooltip display of boosted effects like Deranged Brute boosting Rage. Previously, the gameplay worked correctly but the tooltip numbers did not reflect the modified values. Now the tooltip text should match gameplay.
24. ENGINE - if your data files are corrupted and art doesn't load properly (seen various times from users on Steam) show a message telling the player how to verify integrity on Steam to fix the problem.
25. ENGINE - reduce the minimum valid resolution so people with old PCs can continue to play in very low resolutions if they want.
26. ENGINE - Run History has been rewritten to store most data locally. For existing players data has to be migrated which takes some time. Broadly, all single player runs stay local to the user now instead of being uploaded to our servers. All multiplayer runs are always uploaded (helps with cheat detection and sharing among other things). Single player runs can still be shared but require opting-in to make that happen. The result of this benefits both players and the development team. For players, run history should be more stable to internet connection loss and loads faster with local storage. For the devs, server load is reduced.
27. ENGINE - significant load time speed up for the first time you visit clan select after booting the game. On different machines we have seen between 3x and 10x speed up.
28. MULTIPLAYER - prevent players from playing multiplayer modes if they are not on the latest game version.
29. TEXT - added Enhance tooltip to Wicked Blaze.
30. TEXT - Icy Cilophyte now says the stack count for Spell Weakness to improve consistency.
31. TEXT - updated wording on Flicker's Liquor to clarify rules.
32. UI - "reset save" functionality reworked in settings menu to try to prevent people from using this by accident and not realizing that it will wipe progress.
33. UI - added a notification to the main menu that tells you if there is a new daily challenge you haven't seen yet or a new set of featured custom challenges you haven't seen yet.
34. UI - added ability to press enter to close run opening info.
35. UI - added information in the Logbook about how many single player end-game challenges you've completed.
36. UI - changed Haste to not show stacks.
37. UI - changed main menu text to say "standard run" and "challenges" instead of "singleplayer" and "multiplayer" to try to get more people to try the "challenge" modes.
38. UI - Logbook option moved to the main menu.
39. UI - status effect count is always visible even if it's 1 for all stackable status effects.